While the pilot dumps fuel, what do YOU do?
 

Now that that UA897 has landed, and everyone appears to be okay, I was curious as to what you do during the hour or so the pilot is dumping fuel. Even after 1.3 million miles, I've never had an on-board emergency (not surprising, statistically). Do you re-read the safety card? Break the rules and call your loved ones? Write your will? Open the duty-free bottle of gin you bought? Cry? Pray?

Does anyone have a first-hand experience they would like to talk about?

Topic for TravelBuzz, perhaps? ;)

I had an inflight emergency once. The door flew open after take-off. :eek:

But I was the pilot, and the plane was a single-engine Piper. :D

I spent the next 30 seconds yelling at my friend in the passenger seat to quit trying to reach for the door handle, because his knee kept bumping the flight yoke. Then I re-entered the traffic pattern and landed the plane.

Of course, if I were in an commerical airliner and we were dumping fuel, I don't think I would panic. As long as one engine is working, all the pieces of the plane are still attached, nothing is on fire, and the plane isn't already out of control, you'll probably be fine.

Continue reading my book, or sleeping. In 99% of cases, everything is OK. In tghe other 1%, it really doesn't matter what you do.

Eh, absolutely nothing. As a pilot I know that there was no danger WHATSOEVER, so would act the same as I would any other flight.

I don't follow the 'No Danger' and the '99%' thinking.

I agree there's not much you can do.

As for what people would actualy do if they knew it was all over, I think Sky-phone/cellphone calls are high on the list.

Continue listening to channel 9, assuming the captain leaves it on. Otherwise, switch to channel 3.

-David

Where does the fuel go? If overland, does the pilot dump fuel on people down below?? :confused:

I'm sure others know more details but I do believe it evaporates before reaching the ground.

Usually dumped over a body of water, I believe.

WHILE HE IS DUMPING, I MAY WELL BE DUMPING!!

I'm not too familiar with it myself, but here's a nice wikipedia article about it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_dump

"Actual fuel dumping operations are coordinated with air traffic control (ATC), and precautions are taken to keep other aircraft clear of such areas. Fuel dumping is usually accomplished at a high enough altitude where the fuel will dissipate before reaching the ground. Fuel leaves the aircraft through a specific point on each wing, usually closer to the wingtips and further away from engines, and initially appears as more liquid than vapor. Here are still photos of fuel dumping from a 747, A340, and L-1011. Fuel dumping on a Boeing 767 can be seen about 2 minutes into this video."

Fuel will vaporize. It will never hit the ground or water. It does not matter where the pilot dumps it. This happens far more often than you think (Dumping fuel) though not in emergency dump quanteties.

What would I do? Get to a window and take pictures. That fuel will create one heck of a pretty rainbow.

Same here. There is still SOME added danger when the aircraft is not running 100% as it was designed.

I'd try to figure out a way to collect it & sell it back to UA at $4.50 a gallon! :D

If there was an emergency, they would have landed right away, and not wasted time dumping fuel. The fuel dumping is to get the plane below the max landing weight, so to eliminate the risk of damage to aircraft on landing, and to avoid costly and time consuming inspections that an overweight landing would require.

What happened to UA897?

Quote of the month...
 

Still on the floor laughing.

Since no aircraft is ever running 100% as it was designed, you must hate flying.

You know what I meant. :rolleyes:

Well, that's true to an extent, but I think it's fair to say that there are different levels of emergencies. For instance, if there's an engine fire but it's been extinguished they would probably dump the fuel to get below MLW. On the other hand, if there are serious concerns about whether the aircraft can make it that long (for instance, the engine fire cannot be extinguished) then you can be they'll put the bird on the ground post haste.

Of course, there's that old pilot adage of any landing you can walk away from is a good one, but any landing where you can use the airplane again is a great one!

Maybe I have been flying too much or too long but I have been on aircraft where fuel had to be dumped on two different occasions. The first was on a DC10 nearly 18 years ago. We departed from Boston and had a catestropic failure in the tail engine. THere was a very loud noise and channel 9 was instantly unavailable. I was traveling in first with my three year old and a six month old on my lap. The plane was somewhat unstable and all I could think about was the Soux City disaster. After ~30 minutes the pilot finally came on the intercomm to interupt what have been a very long period of silence. He told us about the catastrophic failure of the turbine but they NOW had the aircraft under control and would need to dump fuel before returning to Logan. The first 30 minutes of the event seemed to drag on forever. The last 20 minutes passed quickly because I was busy explaining to my three year old that we were not going to land in the water. What I had not thought about was the fleet of fire engines with flashing lights that greeted our touchdown. When we finally came to a stop, there was a round of applause and the pilot came on the intercomm to explain that before taxing to the gate, it would be necessary for the ground crew to remove some of the trailing gear! They had to tow us back to the terminal. The ground staff did an excellent job of taking care of passengers who decided to not continue their journey on a later flight.

The other event also occured while travelng with my two kids but it was several years later. We departed ORD on our way toe MSY in a 727. About 20 minutes into the flight the pilot announced that we needed to return to ORD because there was a fuel leak. Before landing we had to dump some additional fuel but it wasn't particularly concerning until we taxied to a holding box. We were surrounded by emergency equipment but they would not let us proceed to the gate or disembark from the aircraft. That is when things became interesting. There were passengers who became very upset because they imagined that the plane was close to exploding. I think the ground crew was doing everything possible to minimize that possibility. Eventually we were towed to the gate but there were some rather agitated people on board.

While not a fuel dump, I was in a real inflight emergency. I was on a US flight ATL-PIT in the winter time and there was a bad snowstorm backing up arrivals. We entered into a long holding pattern and a passenger went into the bathroom for a smoke (must not have been aware of the smoke detectors). Anyway, they disposed of their cigarette in the trash can and set the bathroom on fire. The FAs initially tried to put it out but then realized it wasn't in the cards on the small fire extinguisher. So they shut the door and we landed mighty quick. Down the slides and into a snow bank. Fire was put out and we got our luggage delivered a couple days later.

So, what was I doing? I was sitting near the back looking behind me wondering if the fire was going to eat through the wall. I was also wondering what kind of idiot decides to throw a cigarette into the trash on an airplane. No, I did not review the emergency card... if you're not near an exit, your job is to leave your junk on the plane and go to the nearest unobstructed exit and take a jump. Pretty simple.

What would I do?
 

Drink;)

i agree with mahasamatman.

Though, I suspect, many of the silent FlyerTalk readers wonder "what compensation" they are entitled to. You know, because "their inconvenience" is all that matters. Also, I bet they also want to make sure they get the full miles for the original trip and get the additional miles for the rest of the to the final destination. And finally, how they can blame this dumping of fuel directly correlates to the lack of service and/or knowledge at the ICC.

Riiiight, they had Channel 9 nearly eighteen-years ago?

May not have been on Ch 9, specifically...however, when I flew to CA for one of my 29 Stumps ATs (IAD-ORD-ONT & back the same way), I remember listening to Flight Crew/ATC on the audio system installed at the time, that was in 1993 (14 yrs ago).

"From the Cockpit" has been around as long as I can remember flying United as a kid, which was at least 18 years ago. I can't remember if it was channel 9, but I feel like it was. It used to be the captain's choice between "From the Cockpit" and the pop music channel, which made it annoying for either me or my younger sister, but not both. :)

(Of course, I could be wrong.)

Yes they had channel 9 more than 18 years ago and most people knew how to spell in those days (just kidding). Something else that used to happen 20 years ago is if you added you mileage plus to award trips they would credit the mileage to your account. It was a great deal when flying from the east coast to HNL.

approximately 8 years ago
 

I was on an SAS flight from Copenhagen back to the US. About 3 hours out of Copenhagen we were over icebergs only and they announced one of the engines was not working and that we would dump out fuel at sea and turn around and try to get back to Copenhagen.

I did not panic or worry, as it wouldn't have made things any better. Until you have been in a situation like this, you don't really know how you would behave/react.

We did get back to Copenhagen and they immediately tried to convince everyone to get back on another plane which would reach Chicago at 2 am, then they would try to rebook those of us going to the West Coast. Virtually everyone went, but as I am disabled and doubted they would take good care of me getting me to/from ORD to a hotel until a flight to the West Coast took off much later the next morning, I refused
that option and insisted to be put up in a hotel after the ordeal. They originally refused, but finally relented, and I took the same flight the following day, uneventfully.

I like window seats so I took pictures and still have them.

Wow, I did not know... I learn something new everyday at FlyerTalk.

I'm suprised and wonder why United is the only airline that i know of that does allow it's passengers to listen in on ATC.

Draft a complaint letter to WHQ asking for miles actually traveled for this flight rather than point-to-point (0) miles.

As someone else stated, there is not any danger in fuel dumping. I wouldn't worry

You forgot how to contatc Glenn:D

Landed really heavy on a A319 (I don't think they can dump fuel). It took hours before we could leave again as mechanics went over every inch of the plane.

I think I'd enjoy the hour of (relatively) low altitude sight seeing :cool:

At SFO, they dump the fuel over the ocean at relatively high altitude.

On an Air France CDG-SFO flight back in the 90s we had to put down in Glasgow to off load a passenger with a medical problem.

I seem to recall it taking at most 20 minutes for the 747 to void.

From my port-side window seat I could see the plume of fuel issuing from the wing tip.

Once we got landed the medics had to come on and got the guy off.

Then had to refuel.

Total about 90 minutes delay.

I suspect AF lost money on that flight.